MyFitnessPal Community Guidelines

Welcome to MyFitnessPal! We want our members to feel like this is a safe, friendly, supportive site for people focused on living better and healthier lives. We have a variety of categories you can participate in, ranging from sharing Success Stories to asking about Food and Nutrition to Fitness and Exercise and more.

Please keep in mind that our message boards are public, and when you make something publicly available on the Internet, it becomes practically impossible to take down all copies of it in the future. If you need help removing your posts, please click here for more information.

We have established the following guidelines which we ask all of our members to follow. We strongly feel that posts or actions disregarding these guidelines jeopardize the supportive atmosphere of MyFitnessPal. Use of MyFitnessPal is subject to these Community Guidelines and our Terms of Service.

Moderation and Reporting Posts

MyFitnessPal is moderated by a team of volunteers and a few full-time site administrators. We do not review content as it is posted, we rely on our members to help us identify problems. If you see a post that you feel violates our guidelines, you can help us by reporting a post. Our goal is to get to reports as soon as possible; however an actual human does look at each report, and some may take longer than others to decide an outcome.

Groups

MyFitnessPal Groups allow members with similar interests to communicate separately from the public message boards. Groups are user-moderated and can be private, or visible to other MyFitnessPal members.

Group content must adhere to our Community Guidelines, including group-specific guidelines.

1. Play Nice

I WILL:

I will be respectful and understand that everyone is different. Some members are new to this, so be kind to the newbies.

I will remember the human on the other side of the screen.

I will share my opinions while respecting others' thoughts and feelings as well.

I will be ready to hear and accept other opinions that I might not always agree with.

I will not attack, mock, or otherwise insult others. I can respectfully disagree with the message or topic, but I cannot attack the messenger. This includes attacks against the member’s spelling or command of written English, belittling a member for posting a duplicate discussion, or attacking a member for posting in an older discussion. (ie. It’s lose not loose, strong first post, didn’t you already post this today, etc.) Not every member has the same level of education, so I’ll refrain from criticizing a member for not framing their content in a manner befitting a university-level science paper.

I won’t pick apart how something is said; I will focus on the meaning/message.

2. Treat others with dignity, compassion and respect

I WILL:

I will SHOW RESPECT.

I will show kindness.

I will respect that MyFitnessPal has a zero-tolerance policy for hate speech.

5. Keep it Clean (we mean your language)

I will be mindful that this is a workplace friendly site. If you wouldn’t use that language in front of your boss, mom or anyone in public, please don’t post it here.

I will post medical or clinical themes related to sex or sexual health in a mature manner.

I WON'T:

I won’t use explicit, sexual, insulting or vulgar language or sexual innuendo.

I won’t get creative trying to get around the profanity filters by the use of non-alphabetical characters to approximate expletives or other objectionable language.

I won’t post topics with the intent to titillate.

6. Promotion of Unsafe Weight-Loss Techniques or Eating Disorders

I WILL:

I will allow members to share experiences without judgment. Those seeking support in their recovery from eating disorders are welcome at MyFitnessPal. A growing list of support resources can be found on our Eating Disorder Resources page.

I will understand that people have a complicated relationship with food.

I WON'T:

I won’t use any aspect of our service to promote anorexia, bulimia or any unsafe dieting practices.

I won’t promote very low-calorie diets.

I won’t diagnose other members.

Please note: Profiles, groups, messages, posts, or wall comments that encourage anorexia, bulimia, or very low-calorie diets of any kind will be removed, and may be grounds for account deletion. This includes positive references to ana/mia, purging, or self-starving. Our goal is to provide users with the tools to achieve their weight management goals at a steady, sustainable rate. Use of the site to promote, glamorize, or achieve dangerously low levels of eating is not permitted.

7. To advertise or not to advertise? (Not to advertise!)

I WILL:

I will understand that posts containing links to offsite blog posts and social media are considered advertisements.

I will report posts I believe to be advertising.

I WON'T:

I won’t post any links or mentions of other services, websites, or businesses from which an associate or myself might benefit financially or otherwise.

I won’t solicit off-forum contact from which I might benefit, i.e., "message me for more info."

I won’t request or solicit for donations, not even requests for charitable contributions.

I won’t post or use this service to promote websites that compete with MyFitnessPal.

9. Be you and only you

I will let staff know if I’d like to change my username a second time.

I will realize that a violation of these guidelines may result in being blocked from MyFitnessPal services.

I WON'T:

I won’t impersonate other members.

I won’t mimic, stalk or steal another member’s identity.

I won’t catfish or mislead another member with a fake account.

I won’t create multiple accounts to deceive other members, moderators or admins to get around a forum ban.

10. Keep it legal

I WILL:

I will remember this is a public forum (i.e., posts can be found in a Google search by a boss or family member).

I WON'T:

I won’t post messages that violate federal, state/provincial, or local laws which include, but are not limited to, anything that infringes a copyright, trademark, patent, trade secret or is bound by NDA (non-disclosure agreement).

I won’t post content that references illegal activities, including, but not limited to, use of illegal substances, violence against others, and procurement of prescription drugs without a prescription, are prohibited. Posts about marijuana which is not legal federally in the USA yet, posts about steroids, and posts about substances that are not legal, federally, in the USA are not allowed.

I won’t post images containing hateful or violent imagery; the depiction of illegal activities, or copyrighted material are not allowed and will be removed.

11. Cross-posting

I WILL:

I will feel okay posting a discussion another member has asked before (it’s cool, I might get different answers).

I will report duplicate discussions and not directly and publicly call out if a member has made this mistake.

I will report my discussion if I’d like it to be edited, moved, or deleted.

I WON'T:

I won’t post my discussion in multiple places. Posting the same message to multiple categories or groups is a form of spam.

I won’t tell people to Google answers.

12. Divisive topics work best in groups

I WILL:

I will use groups to post divisive topics.

I will be proud of my diversity and respectful of the diversity of our global community.

I will ask myself if my discussion is relevant only to a particular group, for example, a specific religion or political view, and post that content in an appropriate group.

Please note we reserve the right to delete or lock posts and discussions, to disable the posting privileges of any member, or to deny anyone use of our site at any time, for any reason, at our discretion without warning or notice. We reserve the right to dismiss a reported post if we find it does not violate a guideline.

Groups:

I WILL:

I will uphold site-wide guidelines in all groups.

I will be responsible for the moderation of my group.

I will report group issues to the group moderator.

I will make my group private if it has mature content.

I will invite new members to join the group in moderation.

I WON'T:

I won’t participate in groups that aren’t relevant to me.

I won’t harass or troll groups reflecting opinions different than mine.

I won’t spam the forums with mass invites.

It is vital that everyone in the community understands and agrees to these guidelines for us to nourish a friendly and supportive community. We know this is a unique place. You can’t say whatever you want here, even when someone is wrong. We insist that you consider your impact on other people and our community when you post. This isn’t everyone’s style, and this won’t be the right community for everyone. Occasionally we will remove members from the community because it isn’t a good fit. Please review the section below for details on how our warning and post systems work.